A
female
age
51-59,
anonymous
writes:I hope you can help and I would really value your advice :-)I am just under 5 ft 4 and I weigh just over 9 stone. I have been exercising pretty vigorously since January and yet there is little difference to my appearance or how I feel! I don't get it. I go to the gym about three times a week, sometimes four or five and do interval training. I go on the wii and have a couple of fitness programmes that I do, I do fitness videos and dance. Most of this every day in fact! I really sweat and burn! Yet I have hardly lost any weight at all and look the same. I altered my diet to include more fruit and veg. Tried dieting at one point (well, no chocolate, cakes or crips) but lost not a pound so gave up on depriving myself! I still eat healthily. People tell me the reason why I look the same is because there is nothing to change, I'm fine the way I am. I used to be slender before I gave up smoking. I think I used to look quite skinny but I am used to being slender and I feel mumsy now! I used to be between 7 and a quarter and just over 8 stone. I am confused as when I look in the mirror I see someone who isn't fat or anything, just a little bit extra than before and I don't like it! My other half says I am obsessed and that I have a distorted body image. He is overweight himself and doesn't understand my need to look at least toned and slim. I think I do have low self esteem but why am I not toned after all the work I have done? Am I the correct weight? Last time I weighted myself my BMI was 22.7 and body fat was 31.9. (A week ago). I do have a very small waist and breast implants but I feel a bit kind of chubby :-( If I stop exercising I am now worried I will put on weight. Help!
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female
reader, Gherkinsaregrim  +, writes (8 May 2011):
Google weight plateu. You will understand your at one and you need to work through it with patience
A
female
reader, person12345  +, writes (8 May 2011):
 When you get to the point where there's nothing else to lose and tone, everyone is telling you that you look great, and you're still obsessed with losing weight, it's time to start seeking help for an exercise disorder (a form of anorexia). You should go and talk to a counselor to try to figure out why you feel a constant need to lose weight. Exercising is good and healthy, but the way you describe it sounds very excessive. That coupled with the way you carefully know your body measurements, BMI, and weight, is not a good sign. There are ways to help your self-esteem through counseling so you won't feel a need to exercise, to make your breasts larger, etc... Please take care of yourself.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (8 May 2011): Wow you are really impatient aren't you? Very obsessed too.
OP results don't just happen that quickly at all. Since January is no time at all. 4 months OP and you're expecting to be toned and slim? No wonder you're disappointed.
Took me the best part of a year and my workout regime was far more intense than yours but it sounds better regulated then yours.
It looks to me that your main problem is that you're doing the wrong kind of exercise, you need to do weights and high resistance training, to get toned. All you're doing is lots of cardio and some light calisthenics. You're probably doing too much of it too OP. There is a very fine line between just enough and too much. You do know that muscles give tone right? Do you know that doing too much cardio actually eats into your muscle, you actually lose lots of muscle doing too much cardio.
You're being far too impatient and you're not working out intelligently OP. You're doing too much and not regulating your diet enough. So your body is just losing muscle, it wants to keep the fat because it needs to store as much as it can because you're putting it under strain. So even if you do lose weight you're just getting floppy skin and a bit of flab.
What you need to do is, cardio 30 mins, weights 1 hour every second day or when the muscles recover. You need to eat more protein to allow your muscles to strengthen and tone and you need to eat plenty of calories to maintain that. Rest days are vital, do not work out 2 days in a row and take one full week off every 3 months.
Most of all you need patience, stop looking at numbers OP they're a crap gauge of fitness.
You know though I have a feeling none of this is true, if you're friends are telling you're fine then you really need to listen.
You need to go to your doctor and get their opinion on this OP. You may have a serious issue here.
And most of all 4 months? Get real OP, real change takes a long time. 4 months is a ridiculous time period.
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